Copyright and Licensing for Digital Preservation

Funded by Arts & Humanities Research Board

Project Head: Adrienne Muir

Duration: 1 September 2002-12 March 2004

Project Homepage

Description: The aim of the Copyright and Licensing for Digital Preservation research project was to investigate whether copyright legislation and licensed access to digital content threaten the ability of libraries to provide long-term access to that content and to suggest ways in which any problems can be overcome. The project involved a questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews and a seminar with a range of stakeholder groups. The groups included authors and other rights holders and all sectors of the library and information services community. The aim was to gauge awareness of the issue of digital preservation and to identify the problem area in more detail. The opinions of different stakeholder groups, including on current legal provision were sought. The provisions of present and proposed UK copyright legislation were assessed to see whether it meets the digital preservation needs of UK national, academic, public and special libraries. The project also examined to what extent licensed access to digital material in libraries takes account of preservation needs and what provision publishers and information providers are making to ensure perpetual access to digital material. The project aimed to make recommendations for amendments to current legislation and develop model licences for long-term access to digital materials

Publications:

Ayre, C. & A. Muir, 2004. Right to preserve? Copyright and Licensing for Digital Preservation project final report. Loughborough: Loughborough University.
Ayre, C. & A. Muir, 2004. The Right to preserve: the rights issues of digital preservation. D-Lib Magazine, 10(3) March 2004.
Ayre, C. & A. Muir. Ensuring long-term access to digital information in libraries. IMI, April 2004, 1-4.
Muir, A., 2003. Copyright and licensing for digital preservation. Library & Information Update 2(6) June 2003, 34-36.
Muir, A., 2003. Digital preservation: how long will digital content in libraries be accessible. IMI, September 2003, 1-3.
Muir, A., 2004. Digital preservation: awareness, responsibility and rights issues. Journal of Information Science, 30(1), 73-92

Conference papers:

Muir, A., 2003. Copyright and licensing issues for digital preservation and possible solutions. In: Proceedings of the ICCC/IFIP Seventh International Conference on Electronic Publishing, 25-28 June 2003, Guimarães, Portugal. Guimarães: Universidade do Minho, 2003, pp. 89-94. (Refereed)
Muir, A., 2004. Right to preserve? Copyright and licensing issues in digital preservation. In: Online Information 2004: Conference Proceedings, 28th Online Information Conference, Grand Hall, Olympia, London, UK, 30 Nov-2 Dec. London: Learned Information Europe Ltd, pp. 123-126.

Contact: A.Muir, Department of Information Science, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leics. LE11 3TU.

Tel: +44 (0) 1509 228064 Fax: +44 (0) 1509 223053